Six Stolen Weeks
by galsbeingpals
Summary: What happened, potentially, in the six missing weeks. Set after 5x01. Swan Queen, obviously.
1. Chapter 1

CAMELOT, ABOUT SIX WEEKS AGO

It all started with a necklace. A huge, vile, purple necklace that a seven year old child, even a seven year old Snow White, would have known better than to wear. And yet, here Regina was, wearing it, a forced smile on her face as she thanked Robin for his thoughtful gift. She did her best to ignore his prattle as she wondered how long she'd have to keep it on without him getting mopey. They would be changing into Fairytale clothes soon; perhaps it could clash with her outfit…

"Everyone is gathering for dinner," a servant said from the doorway. Regina shrugged away from Robin's arm and called out for Henry, who was sharing the neighbouring room with Roland, despite his protests. He was beyond grounded. Honestly, he didn't seem to mind that much.

"I don't like Hook anyway," he'd muttered to his mother when she'd forbidden him from spending time with the man unsupervised. "I think he's manipulating Emma."

Regina was inclined to agree, though she'd kept that to herself. They made their way to the dining room, where everyone was gathered, but not sitting. There was a large fireplace and servants circulated with wine; Regina accepted a glass and drank deeply. Robin raised his eyebrows. She resisted the temptation to set them on fire.

She noticed that Emma hovered alone in a corner, still in her grey prison clothes. Would it be abuse of the dagger to use it to command her to wash her hair? Regina sighed. They were friends, she admitted reluctantly. She could be a friend. She walked over.

"Miss Swan," she said with a nod.

"Regina- Oh my GOD! What is _that_?"

Regina gave her a quizzical expression.

Emma continued to gape at the giant lilac stone on Regina's chest.

"That," she said, pointing at it with a hand that, due to shock, wasn't even shaking.

"Oh." Regina grimaced. "Robin gave it to me."

Emma guffawed. The darkness had destroyed her already unreliable filter.

"It's awful," she said.

"I know. But it was a nice gesture."

"Oh, God, Mills, you must really love him."

"Why do you say that?" Regina demanded defensively. Emma logged this fascinating reaction, but continued her train of thought.

"Because only love would make you wear that monstrosity."

Regina could feel a lot of things on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back.

"It's not so bad."

Emma gave up, collapsing into cackles. Robin and Hook appeared, wondering what was so funny.

"She is simply delirious at the joke that is her life," Regina snapped.

Emma pretended to look wounded. Regina was awesome; Emma actually felt good right now. Oh hell, maybe she owed this to Robin. The King called everyone to sit down for dinner and Emma listened to everyone exchange pleasantries before engaging in a game of pea flicking with Henry. For someone who'd just watched her rip a heart out, he was remarkably calm and accepting. Then again, his other mother had practically done that for a living. How was he sane?

After dinner, Hook, encouraged by the Charmings, decided it was time to man up and rid Emma of the darkness. Belle was reassuring, she said the only reason it hadn't worked with Rumple was that it _had_ , and he had been afraid.

"But it's different with Emma. She wants the darkness gone. The light in her heart should make True Love's kiss a sure thing."

True Love's kiss itself was complicated; it wasn't just about kissing, both parties had to have acknowledged and accepted their love for each other, but, Hook told himself repeatedly, Emma had done that. Emma loved him, he loved her, and he would save her.

He knocked on Emma's door. She let him in.

"Oh, hey," she said a little awkwardly. "What's up?"

"Do I need a reason to visit my woman?"

Emma ignored his uncomfortable phrasing and sat on the end of the bed. He sat beside her, wrapped his arm around her, and smooched. She squealed, pulling away and jumping off the bed.

"Not in the mood, Killian!" she protested, wringing her hands so she didn't choke him. He was undeterred, following her and catching her to kiss her again.

"It will get rid of the darkness," he said, smiling.

"Oh, crap," Emma said. She didn't need a voice in her head to tell her why this wouldn't work. "Look, Killian, I… I care about you. I do. But I don't love you, I never have, and I really don't want you to kiss me again. Ever."

Killian, to his credit, released her immediately. He looked a lot like a kicked puppy. Saviour Emma would have felt guilty. Dark Emma felt confused.

"Is there someone else?" the wounded pirate demanded suddenly.

"No," Emma lied.

Killian frowned, but let it go, and to Emma's relief, left the room.

Finally, she could bathe. She decided using magic to draw herself a bath was worth the risk; she made it blisteringly hot (darkness came with a chill) and full of bubbles, and poofed off her clothes because magic was addictive, who was she kidding. She slipped into the water, moaning with pleasure, just as there was another knock on her door.

"Go away!" she yelled.

The door opened. Whatever. She wasn't moving.

"Ah, you remembered washing at last!"

"Hey, Regina," Emma said with a roll of her eyes. "You and your snark can come back later. I'm relaxing."

"You broke it off with the pirate."

"Wow, news travels fast in castles."

"He dragged Robin away for rum."

"Ah. Sorry you don't get the night of bliss you were-"

"Do shut up, Emma."

Emma looked at her. "You gonna make me?" she teased.

Regina stroked the dagger through her jacket.

"I can't deny that I'm tempted."

"Are you just gonna watch me bathe, now? I see you took the necklace off."

"Because your eyes are constantly examining my chest?"

" _No_. But you couldn't miss that thing. I felt like it was examining _me_."

Regina laughed. Emma watched her mouth hungrily. Regina slid out of her jacket and undid her sleeves to roll them up.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked, her voice wobbling a little as she took in the straining buttons of Regina's blouse.

"I'm going to wash your hair before the grease slides it right off your head."

She magicked a bottle of shampoo and knelt at the end of the tub, behind Emma.

"I was going to do it…" Emma mumbled.

Regina massaged shampoo into Emma's hair and said nothing. She thought a lot of things, she thought about fear and depression and the fact that while washing was possible, hair could sometimes just be too much effort, and she stroked Emma's scalp with gentle fingers until the hair was clean from the tips to the roots and Emma was humming appreciatively.

Regina rinsed the hair, then conjured some conditioner.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Emma asked.

Regina finished with the conditioner and moved around to look Emma in the eyes.

"Because you deserve it," she said. "Not that I'm being nice," she added, only a little hurriedly. "Your hair was worrying Henry."

Emma made a face. "Sure it was. He's a teenaged boy, he only cares about showers for one reason, and it isn't hair washing."

"So vulgar." Regina chuckled. "But probably true."

"When you had dark magic, did it feel so…"

"Overwhelming? Yes. I killed my own father."

"I'm sorry, Regina, I-"

"There is no need for you to be sorry. And we will not let that happen to you. Not that it would, anyway. You are good."

"I wish people would stop saying that. I'm a person, just like everyone else. I do good things, I do bad things. Mostly, I just do what I have to."

"You didn't have to save me," Regina said, so quietly it should have been inaudible. Emma reached out of the tub and stroked Regina's jaw.

"Yes I did," she breathed.

Neither of them moved for a long moment.

"I need to rinse your hair," Regina said suddenly, sounding very flustered. Emma withdrew her hand.

"Yeah, I… I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry. I just-"

"There is no need to discuss it, Miss Swan. I accept your apology."

Emma clamped her mouth shut around everything else she wanted to say. Regina rinsed her hair.

"I don't love Robin," Regina said suddenly to the back of Emma's head. "But he's my only chance."

 _No he's not_ , Emma was desperate to say. But it was too late. She could have said it, even 24 hours ago, she could have said it, but now she was the Dark One, and Regina was the only person she trusted to keep the people she loved safe.

In the end she said nothing. She just lay there, her lips pressed together in a thin line, until Regina finished with her hair, dried her hands, put on her jacket, and left the room.

ONE WEEK LATER

Emma's dress was white. She hated it, it was like a terrible joke. Regina's was red. It made her think of blood, and she had to wear the dagger in a sheath at her hip. She had no jacket to hide it under, and she felt both powerful and uncomfortable with the control she had been trusted with.

They took to walking in the forest together. They needed no protection, and the knights trusted them to return for their child.

"You could tell him," Emma said after a week of small talk and sassy jokes. "He must know, anyway."

"But, then what?" Regina asked.

"Isn't it better to be single than to live a lie?"

"I don't want to be alone forever."

"You're not alone. You have Henry. You have m- Well, everyone. All your friends."

Regina did not miss the correction. She reached for the dagger that she had yet to use.

"What?" Emma asked.

Regina didn't know what was making her brave, but here, alone in the forest with no clue how to find Merlin or save anyone or help anyone, even herself, she had little left to lose. She could be a friend, she thought she was doing very well considering she had never really had a friend before. But she had to know.

She drew the dagger.

"I command you, Emma Swan, to tell me how you feel about me."

"You don't play fair," Emma said, but she was smiling. "I feel incredibly attracted to you. You're the most beautiful person I've ever met, and you're strong and smart and funny and I want to know what your lips taste like, what all of you tastes like, and I want to feel your body pressed against mine as I fill you-"

"Enough," Regina croaked out, putting the dagger away.

"What about you?" Emma asked, smirking. She hardly needed to ask.

"May I?" Regina managed when her lips were maybe an inch from the blonde's.

"Please," Emma said, closing her eyes and flexing her heightened senses as Regina's mouth slammed into hers.

ANOTHER WEEK LATER

Regina rolled over in Emma's bed, groaning at the idea of getting up. Emma, whose hair was back to actually bouncing, tickled her between the shoulder blades.

"Come on."

"I don't want to."

"Hey, maybe Robin'll be able to look at you this time."

"I should never have told him."

"You did the right thing. Maybe you'll do okay being the goodie after all."

Regina rolled over, gloriously naked. Emma licked her lips.

"You're calling me good, after what I just had you do?"

Emma chuckled. "Goodness has many definitions."

"Mm, so good," Regina murmured. Emma leaned down on top of her.

"We have to go. Well, you do. I'm the Dark One, I can do whatever I want."

"Actually, you do whatever I want."

"You commanded me once."

"It would have been more times, but you're so wonderfully obedient…"

Emma tugged her further into the bed and kissed her soundly.

"You're lucky I ever let you leave this bed," she said, grinning.

Regina hummed as Emma's wicked tongue found its way to her incredibly sensitive centre.

"Fuck," she groaned.

SEVENTEEN MINUTES LATER

"I'm coming!" Regina called to Henry through the door.

"You were really coming a minute ago," Emma teased.

Regina strapped the dagger to her hip. Emma magicked herself dressed at the last moment.

"I guess I could eat," she said with a shrug. Regina flashed her a glowing smile.

"I'm proud of you."

"Suck up."


	2. Chapter 2

CAMELOT, ABOUT FOUR WEEKS AGO

Regina hated being the saviour. She hated everything about it. She hated being relied upon, she hated having to tell all the idiots what to do, she hated everyone looking to her for answers, she hated light magic, she hated having to be inspiring, she hated being good all the time. She even hated the outfits.

First there'd been freeing Merlin, then there'd been catching him, then there'd been all kinds of magic drama, then there'd been consoling Hook and breaking up with Robin (at least they kind of consoled each other now) and keeping a very bored and frustrated Henry out of trouble. Regina was beginning to understand why so many families hadn't minded at all when their teenagers were enlisted to fight in the ogre wars.

She was tired and angry and frustrated and even at what was supposed to be a calm dinner (where she should have been more than relaxed due to Emma's earlier ministrations) she only had a minute of playing with her dubious looking soup before she was being quizzed about the latest Big Bad. They still hadn't twigged that Emma was the Dark One, which was something, but Regina had a feeling it was only a matter of time.

It would have been fine, Snow White might even have managed to keep her mouth shut, but they'd brought Granny and Belle and far too many beards. It was going to get out. Emma was the only one who agreed that having a game plan for when this happened might be a good idea, but it turned out she wasn't very good at planning.

Regina fielded the questions to the best of her ability, chatted to Henry about his day (he was having fighting lessons with the knights, which kept him out of trouble, at least), and made it valiantly through the meal without fireballing anybody. If that didn't make her a hero, she didn't know what would.

There was talk of music and dancing later. Snow was beaming with excitement. Regina took that as her cue to run. She didn't even have to lie about having a headache - Snow's excited squealing could pulverise the most sympathetic of brains if they listened to it for long enough.

Finally alone in her room (Henry was now sharing with Roland) she splashed water on her cheeks and massaged her temples. She caught sight of her reflection in the glass and almost wanted to cry. She looked _old_. Maybe she would cut her hair again. Robin had liked it long, but that was no longer an issue.

Emma burst into the room.

"What if I'd been changing?"

Emma grinned. "I would have enjoyed it."

Regina looked back at her reflection. Emma's was now appearing behind it.

"What are you frowning about?" Emma asked. Regina had been helping her control the darkness and she was doing much better than a fortnight ago, though she still often felt rather tense, and she knew it wouldn't take much for her to go under.

Regina was her saving grace. Emma was smart enough to know that put the former queen under a lot of pressure, but she did all she could to relieve it.

"Do you like my hair?"

Emma was surprised by the question. Regina was never anything but confident in her appearance.

"Of course," she said, wondering if there would be more context.

"Did you like it better short?"

Emma tried to figure out the right answer.

"Even if you were bald, you'd still be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," she offered.

Regina turned around, glaring at her.

"You're useless. I'm trying to decide whether to cut it."

Emma hated this kind of conversation, but she did her best. She could turn pretty much anything into foreplay if she put her mind to it.

"Do _you_ want to cut it?"

Regina's bottom lip trembled. "I don't know," she said angrily. Why did she look like she was about to cry over her hair? Emma thought back to her days as saviour and thought maybe she had an idea.

"We're gonna figure this out," Emma said. "With some really easy questions. I'm gonna ask them, and you're gonna answer, first thing that comes into your head, as fast as you can. Okay?"

Regina nodded. Emma smiled.

"Right. Black or white?"

"Black," Regina said immediately.

"Wine or beer?"

"Whiskey."

"You're a cheat. Ass or boobs?"

"Ass."

Emma grinned. "You really miss my jeans, don't you? Blonde or brunette?"

"Blonde. Stop fishing."

"Men or women?"

"Women," Regina said with an eyeroll.

"Salad or burgers?"

"Salad."

"Cotton or silk?"

"Silk."

"Do you want long hair or short hair?"

"Short hair. Oh!" Regina smiled. She hadn't expected it to work.

Emma plopped a kiss on her lips.

"I hate being the saviour," Regina admitted.

"I hated it too," Emma said. Regina was surprised.

"The whole time? I know things got rough towards the end, but there were a lot of other factors…"

"I always hated it. I mean, not before the curse broke. I quite liked Storybrooke before the curse broke. Especially the mayor."

Regina raised her eyebrows. Emma winked. "Yeah, that mayor. She was so hot. And she pretended to hate me, but I knew she really just wanted to get in my pants."

"You wanted to get in my pants first," Regina said. Emma spun them around and nudged her towards the bed.

"If I tell you you're right, will you let me in them now?"

Regina was forced to admit, while Emma made their clothes disappear, that there might be one thing she liked about being the saviour. All this frustration seemed to fuel both hers and Emma's stamina.

Emma tried to put all her appreciation for how Regina was helping her into her kisses. Regina tried to think about nothing but sex, nothing but release, nothing but herself and her pleasure. Because the second she thought of Emma…

 _Emma ran her fingers through long dark hair, pressing needy kisses to Regina's neck and jaw. Emma gave her whatever she needed. Emma sucked on her pulse point, her teeth grazing the skin just hard enough for Regina to gasp. The mark could be healed with magic in the morning but for now she wanted it, she wanted her body to be visibly Emma's. With Emma, she belonged. She'd fought so long for a place in the world and now she was lost, so lost, trying to save a group of people who had very recently hated her, who would probably never trust her, but Emma made her feel at home. Emma gave her hope. She had said, once, that this was cruel, but it wasn't. It was wonderful. She arched her back as Emma kissed harder, as she palmed her breasts and agile fingers found her nipples, already hardened just from_ thinking _._

It had to be just sex. There was no other option. They were doing this out of mutual attraction and need, it was convenient, it made sense. But Emma was just a body, any beautiful body would have done the job. They might not have been as skilled with their tongue, Regina thought as Emma's mouth latched onto one of her breasts, but that didn't mean anything. It definitely didn't mean she had feelings for the blonde. She had no time for feelings. She was a reluctant saviour trying to rescue a resistant Dark One and all the power of her soul had to go into goodness. Not love. That was the wrong kind of goodness.

She had no time for love, and no chance of it. Robin had been her chance, and she had failed. She hadn't been able to love him, and he was proof, definitive proof, that no one would ever love her. It had been his destiny and he hadn't managed it. It was ridiculous to think that anyone else could. Especially not the daughter of-

"Come back to me," Emma breathed, rising to kiss Regina's full, red lips.

Regina's eyelids fluttered as Emma trailed her fingers down and ran them along her slit. She was wet, she had been since she'd seen Emma in the mirror, and she bucked her hips as Emma drew a slow circle around her clit, then dipped two fingers inside her.

"Look at me," Emma said, her voice soft and gentle, but her command clear.

Regina looked into emerald eyes and felt her own glisten with tears. She touched every part of Emma that she could reach, making unintelligible sounds as Emma thrust into her in a delicious, accelerating rhythm, her thumb brushing against her clit with every movement.

It didn't take long before she was coming, biting down on her own fist to muffle her screams, and to stop herself from crying out declarations she would be sure to regret.

Emma would already be close. Regina gathered herself, but the blonde held her down, a soft hand caressing her cheeks, wiping away salty wetness.

"You're crying," Emma whispered.

Regina had no answer. She half expected Emma to mock her, for the darkness to encourage several smug jokes, but Emma just held her.

"I can-" Regina started, but Emma shook her head.

"Sleep. You need it. I have eternity, I can wait until tomorrow."

Regina considered protesting, but Emma was holding her so carefully, so lovingly, that she couldn't bring herself to move. She nestled into her lover and succumbed to sleep, wishing her whole life could be as simple as this moment.


End file.
